United States President Joe Biden accidentally introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” in a gaffe during a signing ceremony on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington DC on Thursday, July 11, 2024.

Vladimir Putin is the President of Russia.

Biden’s blunder will further fuel concerns about his mental acuity after a disastrous debate performance against former U.S. President Donald Trump two weeks ago.

It came just before a press conference that could decide the fate of his reelection bid.

More members of his Democratic party have called on the 81-year-old to drop his bid for re-election.

“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” he said.

“Going to beat President Putin, President Zelensky. I am so focused on beating Putin,” Biden added while correcting himself.

Fellow leaders at the summit have fielded questions about Biden, and their answers have largely been supportive.

“We all slip up sometimes. It’s happened to me and it could happen again tomorrow. I would ask for your indulgence,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

Biden acknowledges bad debate performance, vows to defeat Trump

The gaffe came shortly before a highly anticipated news conference where Biden hopes to ease fellow Democrats’ fears that he no longer has the ability to beat Republican Trump in the November election or to lead the country for another four-year term.

So far, 13 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate’s 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to the president to withdraw from the race.

During his solo news conference on Thursday evening, Biden will have to respond to questions on a wide range of topics – including his fitness for another four years in the White House.

Biden’s campaign has been on the ropes for two weeks, since his poor debate performance against Donald Trump, his 78-year-old Republican rival.

Top advisers met with Senate Democrats to try to quell further defections. His campaign argued that the debate has not dramatically shifted the race, even as it laid out a narrow path to re-election that acknowledged that it faced an uphill climb in many states he won in 2020.

None of the party’s leaders in Congress have called for Biden to end his candidacy, though former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday declined to say he should stay in the race.

Some Senate Democrats said they were still uncertain about Biden’s ability to win after meeting with Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and other top aides.

The campaign has commissioned a survey to test how Vice President Kamala Harris would fare if she were to replace Biden at the top of the ticket, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found Harris would fare no better than Biden if she were the Democratic nominee, as both were statistically tied with Trump.

The Star